Cherry Shrimps dying sporadically, failure to thrive, loss of babies?

[Chobin]

Hi Guys,

I have a 5 gallon portrait style tank, with a hang on back filter (sponge media), heavily planted with guppy grass and pearl weed. This tank has been established for about 7 months. It has a lot of pest snails, and I housed it with 10 cherry shrimp of various colors about 2 months ago. Water parameters:

Ph: 7.8
Temp: Room temp (usually 69.9-73)
KH: 7
GH: 9
Nitrites: 0
Ammonia: 0
Nitrates: 5-10ppm

I use API tap water conditioner and a squirt of aquarium co-op easy green once every 3 weeks (since this tank is small and my plants don't appear to need too many nutrients to thrive). This tank has white aquarium gravel for substrate. I add a broken up almond leaf in there for them to graze on. I feed them sporadically with repashy community food, shrimp snowflakes, API shrimp king, alternating about 3 times a week MAX. I sometimes add a boiled dandelion leaf, but they aren't too thrilled with veggies. I also add BACTER AE (1/32 of a teaspoon) every other day or so.

I do weekly to bi weekly water changes of about a gallon of water, just to ensure I'm picking up all the shrimp poop. The shrimp seemed to be thriving a month in (had a berried female, no shrimp deaths). But this last month, I've had three shrimp die over 3 weeks. I also noticed my pregnant female either released her young or lost her babies! I don't notice any tiny shrimp anywhere (I know they are SMALL). I have a pre-intake filter and my filter is low flow to protect babies from being sucked up.

I'm not sure why, but my cherry shrimp seem not to thrive. It's funny, because I have a 15 gallon community tank with crystal red shrimp, that I absolutely do NOTHING special for and they are absolutely thriving (even though I thought my PH was too alkaline and my water too hard for them). The female CRS is constantly having babies all over the tank, and were it not for the fish there I would have lots of crystal reds (currently have about 8 that I can see, started with three). I don't even feed this shrimp anything or add BACTER AE, because there is always some fish flake food leftover.

TLDR: I don't think my tap water is the problem, but something must be off that the cherries are not thriving. Any advice appreciated! perhaps 5 gallons is too small to maintain perfect water conditions?

 

[ruud]

Ha! You already answered your own question:

"I have a 15 gallon community tank with crystal red shrimp, that I absolutely do NOTHING special for and they are absolutely thriving"

My initial reaction to people who tell me their tank with shrimp is not thriving is that they are doing too much....

Shrimp, especially shrimplets love a bit dirty tank, provided the tank has some current and is well oxygenated. If you have a picture of your setup, feel free to share. Make sure to also have the water surface in the image. I am a little triggered by "low flow".

 

[Chobin]

I will post some pictures tonight!!

 

[Chobin]

Here’s some pictures—water looks yellow due to IAL in there. It’s a waterfall type filter that’s not too strong cause of the sponges in there. Maybe not strong enough?? Should I add an airpump? I also leave tank at room temp cause I thought that was fine for these shrimp..

 

[ruud]

The only thing I can think of...well, not really sure...it's a tall tank with minimal flow you say. Is it possible to agitate the water surface? Neo's do well in current, nothing to worry about.

 

[Cherryshrimp420]

5g is very small....don't feed anything and the shrimps will probably do better than now.

 

[Chobin]

The only thing I can think of...well, not really sure...it's a tall tank with minimal flow you say. Is it possible to agitate the water surface? Neo's do well in current, nothing to worry about.

That's a bit what I'm worried about. I will purchase an airpump and see if anything improves!

5g is very small....don't feed anything and the shrimps will probably do better than now.

I tried not to overfeed, but shrimp are so tiny, it is possible i was overfeeding! The water parameters are good though (thank goodness for guppy grass and duck weed). I"ll try limiting feedings to twice a week and see if things improve!

 

[Debbie1986]

oh I had that tank. I hated it - waterfall cascade or something from Pet Smart. The lid was the downfall for me. The rest of the tank was great, but that lid. ugh.

The flow was also very strong

interesting as a shrimp tank. the filter lid looks messy ( no offense intended) - have you been cleaning it out?

i check my filter and clean if needed when I change out carbon cartridge

I see you cut into the clear plastic side.

well, with shrimp and a lot of plants, no need for filter. check out Foo the Flowerhorn on you tube:

the plants do all the work, he has shrimp in the tank in this video

 

[Chobin]

Guys, just an update! I took everyone's collective advice and started doing LESS:

1) Fewer water changes (10% every other week or so)
2) WAY less feedings. Once or twice a week, i do bacter AE and a sprinkle of some kind of food (rotating).
3) Less obsessing.

Today, I was doing some plant maintenance (removing duck weed, and checking for shrimp activity) and I saw the tiniest, cutest little baby shrimplet, just out and about eating with the big boys/girls. It was so adorable. I'll keep checking to see how many more babies there are. One of the big females is berried again! The female who "lost" her babies must have released some viable shrimplets! I'm so excited.

Now I'm super afraid of doing water changes... I think I'll start by removing 10% of the water with a ladle, checking carefully for any baby shrimp, instead of using my hose. I need to remove some plant overgrowth, so I'll have to check every leaf piece of guppy grass very very carefully as well..

I'M A SHRIMP-MA!
Here is a blurry photo with my phone (shrimplets so tiny). Also attached is preggers female!

oh I had that tank. I hated it - waterfall cascade or something from Pet Smart. The lid was the downfall for me. The rest of the tank was great, but that lid. ugh.

The flow was also very strong

interesting as a shrimp tank. the filter lid looks messy ( no offense intended) - have you been cleaning it out?

i check my filter and clean if needed when I change out carbon cartridge

I see you cut into the clear plastic side.

well, with shrimp and a lot of plants, no need for filter. check out Foo the Flowerhorn on you tube:

the plants do all the work, he has shrimp in the tank in this video

The lid IS messy. I think I need to scrape the algae off with a razor blade. The tank in itself doesn't have too much algae, but I purposely try not to over clean so the shrimp can get biofilm to eat! I try to suck up the detritist on the subtrate (IAL leaf litter & shrimp poop) once a week, without removing TOO much water. This is going to be difficult now that I know I have shrimplets!